Post 2015: Global Action for an Inclusive and Sustainable Future

WORkIng DEFInITIOnS OF kEy TERmS
xvIII
This report uses the following working
definitions for certain terms that can be
understood in different ways:
Developing countries: there is no single official
definition for this collective term as various
international organisations use different systems to
categorise groups of countries. We use the term in
a loose sense to refer to countries whose economies
still have some distance to develop. the un’s
committee for Development policy list of 48 least
Developed countries (lDcs) and the World bank’s
list of 36 low-income countries (lIcs), 54 lowermiddle
Income countries (lmIcs) and 54 upper
middle-income countries (umIcs) are all sub-sets
of the group commonly referred to as ‘developing
countries’.
Emerging economies: (also referred to as
emerging markets or emerging powers) are those
countries that are experiencing rapid growth
and industrialisation, in particular brazil, china
and India. an emerging market is ‘a financial or
consumer market in a newly developing country
or former communist country’ (collins online
dictionary). the term ‘brIcs’ (brazil, russia, India
and china) was coined by investment analysts at
Goldman Sachs in 2001 (Zhang and Grimm, 2012)
and has achieved some official recognition as the
brIcS (now also including South africa) grouping
holds its own summits.
European Union: the European union (Eu) of
27 member States is served by a central executive
institution, the European commission, which
has its own right of initiative and the competence
over a number of Eu policy areas (such as trade
or fisheries) where it acts on behalf of the union.
Development cooperation is a ‘shared competence’
with the commission and many of the member
States each having their own development
programmes and bilateral aid agencies. these are,
EuropEan rEport on DEvElopmEnt 2013
however, guided by a common policy document,
the European consensus on Development (2005),
and there are efforts to promote joint action and
complementarity among them. In this report
unless otherwise stated the term Eu is used to refer
to the collective effort of the whole union, that is
member States and the commission. at times the
abbreviation com, used in official circles for the
European commission, is also employed.
Fragility: Fragility refers to a substantial
disequilibrium in state–society relations. a
fragile state has a weak capacity to carry out the
basic functions of government across its entire
territory, and lacks the ability to develop mutually
constructive and reinforcing relations with society.
Fragility exists in degrees and can take different
forms, even within one country (oEcD, 2011).
Global Public Goods: contrary to private goods,
public goods are goods, services or resources which
are non-rival in consumption and non-excludable.
In other words, the use of this type of good by
one person does not diminish the use by another
person; equally, no one can be excluded from
their benefits. the concept of global public goods
(GpGs) applies these criteria of ‘publicness’ to the
solution of challenges at the global level, such as
global health and international security. GpGs
suffer from supply problems due to free-riding since
positive externalities can be enjoyed even without
contributing to the good. In contrast, the failure to
provide joint solutions to global problems results in
global public ‘bads’ (e.g. climate change).
North-South: the term originates from the
influential brandt report: ‘north–South: a
programme for Survival’ published in 1980. the
term ‘north’ is used to refer to countries of the world
that are considered to be richer based on people’s
standard of living and on their level of industrial
and economic development. the expression covers